Netherlands' Classic roster featured historic brotherhood

Though the Netherlands found itself on the wrong end of a tiebreaker, resulting in an abrupt end to its World Baseball Classic run, it still provided plenty of memorable moments and made some history along the way.

For the first time in World Baseball Classic history, three pairs of brothers suited up for the same team this year. With brothers Jonathan and Sharlon Schoop, Josh and Richie Palacios and Jurickson and Juremi Profar on its roster, Team Netherlands made history during Pool A play in Taiwan.

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The trio of brothers’ Dutch heritage all ties back to Cura?ao. The Schoops, who grew up in Santa Maria, make frequent visits to their home country. As do the Profars, who were born in the capital city of Willemstad. Though the Palacios brothers grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., their mother -- who was born in Cura?ao -- holds a Dutch passport, allowing the two to play for the national team. Both Josh and Richie have visited the Dutch Caribbean island to visit family numerous times, though in true brother fashion, Josh made sure to point out that he has “actually been there one more time than Richie has."

? History of baseball in the Netherlands

Until this winter, the Palacios hadn’t been on the same roster since playing together as teenagers with the SAYO Grays in the 2012 National Amateur Baseball Federation World Series. Last December, they both joined the Indios de Mayagüez in the Puerto Rican league and won the championship in January.

“We worked well [in Puerto Rico],” Richie said. “Just pulling for each other, giving each other feedback on things that we could do better in that game and talking about the other team and the tendencies they have. So we work pretty well together, and we’re excited to work together again.”

For the Profars, this isn’t the first time they’ve been involved in a historic baseball-brother moment. In 2019, their younger brother Jurdick played for their home country in the Little League World Series. With Jurickson (2004, ‘05) and Juremi (‘07, ‘08) having both played in the tournament, the Profars became just the second trio of brothers to play in the LLWS.

As adults, the two had another chance when Jurickson joined his brother in representing the Netherlands’ national team in November 2017, playing two exhibition games against the Samurai Japan at the Tokyo Dome.

Sharlon and Jonathan overlapped for four years in the Orioles’ organization. In 2018, they finally had their moment with Triple-A Norfolk. Sharlon, an infielder for the Tides, was joined by Jonathan after his brother was placed on a rehab assignment. On May 6, the two played in their first (and only) professional game together.

“Any time you can play together with your family -- especially with your brother -- is an experience,” Sharlon said. “It’s like a dream come true.”

“Not everybody can say they played with their brother,” Jonathan said. “I enjoy all the time that we play together.”

Though they only played one professional game together, the two shared an apartment in Baltimore while they were both in the O’s organization. As siblings, naturally there was pointing of fingers when asked which roommate was the messy one.

“The messy one is him for sure. 100 percent,” Sharlon said of Jonathan. “I’m a nice [clean] guy, I always keep my things clean and in order. He doesn’t care, he’s the messy one for sure.”

Between the playful jabs at each other, all the brothers agreed on one thing:

“Just trying to win,” Richie said. “Doesn’t really matter who does better in my eyes.”

Thought the Netherlands fell short in this year’s tournament, when it comes to representing your heritage on a worldwide stage, sibling rivalries took a back seat.

Well, mostly.

“I think the only challenge would be who ends up doing better than the other one,” Josh said. “[You’d] have a lot of bragging rights at the dinner table.”